Three operatives suffered minor injuries in fighting the fire that has been burning since Saturday in Odemira and six others were assisted on the spot, authorities announced today, realizing that about 60 people slept in a reception center.
In a briefing to journalists, at the command post set up in São Teotónio, the regional commander of Emergency and Civil Protection of Alentejo, José Ribeiro, said that the situations of medical assistance to the elements of the rescue forces “do not inspire care”.
The fire has three active fronts this late morning, after the registration of several “violent rekindles” and with the strong wind making work difficult.
“It is likely that, with these fronts, this extension, this violence, there are houses that may be at risk”, he admitted, stressing that Civil Protection is assessing with the GNR the need for more evacuations.
The fire in this county of Beja district has already forced Sunday to evacuate four sites – Vale dos Alhos, Vale de Água, Choça dos Vales and Relva Grande – and a rural tourism unit, a total of more than 100 people removed, for prevention.
Today, the number of people withdrawn remains in that order.
Also present at the press conference, the mayor of the municipality, Hélder Guerreiro, specified that about six dozen people, mainly from rural tourism, were welcomed last night in the center created for this purpose
According to the website of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, by 12:30 633 operatives were mobilized, with 206 vehicles and 10 air means.
Government will not declare “for now” alert situation due to fires
The Minister of Internal Affairs said today that “for now” the alert situation will not be declared due to rural fires, taking into account the response of the device to the fight and the weather conditions.
“Whether by the response of the device, or by the number of fires, or by the change that seems to be positive in the movement of the winds and also because there has been, from yesterday [Sunday] to today, a relative replacement of nocturnal humanity, for now the alert situation will not be determined”, José Luís Carneiro told reporters.
The minister, who was speaking after taking stock of the security operation of World Youth Day (WYD), which ended on Sunday in Lisbon, also considered that the means and the firefighting device “is showing efficiency” at the moment.
“The device is managing to demonstrate its ability to respond to fires, although we have had two large fires and a larger burned area,” he said, referring to the fires in Proença-a-Nova (Castelo Branco) and Ourém (Santarém).
On Sunday, the Secretary of State for Civil Protection said the government was considering declaring an alert situation due to the high danger of rural fires in the coming days, when a “complex” weather picture is expected.
